What are the Benefits of Drinking Alkaline Water?

The benefits of drinking alkaline water are amplified when combined with a clean, healthy diet. When switching your drinking water to alkaline water, you can experience many health benefits.

These can range from less inflammation in the body to helping to resolve acid reflux. More on the benefits below.

While there is a range of benefits of drinking alkaline water, there are a few minor side effects. If you suffer from kidney disease or take kidney medication, your kidneys could experience negative effects.

Other side effects can include dry or itchy skin, nausea, vomiting, hand trembling, or even tingling in the extremities of your body or face.

While these sound scary, they are extremely rare side effects. If they are experienced, they are also easy to stop as all you need to do is stop drinking alkaline water.

If you are unaware of what a pH level or the pH scale is, please check out our in-depth write up on alkaline water here. It will explain these concepts to you, and how they relate to consuming alkaline water.

How do I make alkaline water?

While you can purchase bottled alkaline water, we do not recommend it. Most bottled water is alkalized using chemical additives to boost the pH levels artificially. While not every alkaline bottled water is this way, it can be hard to distinguish.

We believe in the DIY method. We have an in-depth breakdown of how to make alkaline water. But to quickly sum it up, we have 4 main methods.

How to make alkaline water

Add fruit to your water

You can add fruit to your regular water to generate an alkaline pH value. Although it can be hard to believe, citrus fruit is the best for creating alkaline water.

The acidity of citrus fruit is metabolised by the body and produces an alkaline pH in the process. If you are adding citrus fruits to your water for the vitamin C keep in mind that this will oxidize in a matter of minutes. So make sure you drink it down soon.

Add baking soda to your water

Athletes are known to use this method when they need an alkaline boost. One of the benefits we talk about in-depth later is the increased post-recovery rate.

This method is easy, but not really suited to people who want to consume alkaline water consistently in their life.

Use an ionizing and alkalizing water kit

An ionizer will generally alkalize your water, or have an attachment to alkalize it. They are a unit that can be installed under your counter-top, or sit on top of it.

They flush water through a series of stages to remove impurities and harmful chemicals. At one or two of the stages, these units will add back in healthy minerals initially stripped from the water and also alkalize your water in the process.

You can check out our current recommended alkaline water ionizers here.

Use an alkalizing water pitcher

Similar to the process of an ionizing unit, these water pitchers create alkaline water by having a water filter through into the pitcher. The filter on the unit will trap impurities and alkalize your water.

Rather than having a more permanent fixture like an ionizer, the pitcher is much more portable but can be less efficient at clearing impurities out of the water than an ionizer.

You can check out our current recommended alkaline water pitchers here.

The benefits of drinking alkaline water

It should be noted however that drinking alkaline water alone is not enough to have a healthy lifestyle. Adequate exercise and a clean diet are more important factors to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Alkaline water is just another layer to add to your diet to improve further upon your health.

There is a number of benefits of drinking alkaline water. Some of these benefits can include

Increase in bone health

A study has linked an increase in alkaline water intake to decreased bone resorption. Bone resorption is a process where old bone cells are broken down and replaced with new cells. ¹

While this sounds like a negative, if you combine alkaline water with increased mineral intake, it will result in better bone strength.

Reduces inflammation within the body

While studies are still ongoing, there are more and more results linking inflammation within the body to disease. There are many things we can do to reduce inflammation within the body.

Things such as eating less acidic foods like meats and dairy are a good start. We can also substitute in foods high in alkalinity, which includes pretty much all non-processed fruits and vegetables.

I’m not preaching a plant-based diet, but if you plan on a more alkaline lifestyle you will probably want to consider a diet change.

Alkaline water helps to raise the pH levels within the body, further reducing inflammation. To be clear, alkaline water is not a miracle cure.

Washing down a piece of steak with alkaline water will not stop the inflammation caused by the level of stomach acid produced. However, it can assist in reducing the severity of the acid.

Alkaline water is not a miracle cure, however, it can assist in reducing the severity of stomach acidity.

Helps to treat acid reflux

Acid reflux is where the stomach acids flow back up into the food pipe. This can cause a burning sensation in your esophagus as the acid flows back up. Acid reflux is also commonly known as heartburn. The good news is that there is easy relief through alkaline water.

A 2012 study found that drinking water with a pH of at least 8.8 pH instantly denatures pepsin. Pepsin is an endopeptidase in the stomach responsible for breaking proteins down into smaller amino acids. ^{2 3}

Our body then absorbs these amino acids for muscle repair and development. This is a vital part of the digestive process but can be very damaging to the esophagus.

Denaturing pepsin can stop the severity of acid reflux when it does occur, resulting in less damage to your body and less discomfort for you.

Can assist with blood sugar and blood lipid levels

A published study found that drinking alkaline water helps to bring blood sugar and blood lipid levels down to normal ranges. This is great news for people with diabetes or sufferers of high blood pressure pr high cholesterol. ⁴

The study results also showed that alkaline water can decrease the chance of hypertension occurring. This is great news, as hypertension is the global leader in death and disability statistics.

Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, and chronic kidney disease.

Increased post-workout recovery

Alkaline water is great at assisting the body with repair and recovery post-workout. No argument that drinking quality water is great for rehydrating. But the added minerals in alkaline water gives the body additional nutrients to replenish depleted mineral stores.

You can also drink alkaline water throughout your workout for even more benefit. While short physical activity not requiring much hydration won’t see much benefit, endurance sports, or long workouts will.

As you rehydrate during your workout with water, you ensure aerobic activity can occur with reduced fatigue levels. Alkaline water not only hydrates but adds these minerals straight into your body.

This will let your body perform for longer before fatiguing from depleting mineral stores.

And some other benefits

Softer water

What is meant by softer water is that the water is much smoother and easier to drink. Proper alkaline water is rich with minerals, enhancing taste, and reducing acidity.

Using an ionizer or alkaline pitcher also removes contaminants from the water, making it even easier to drink.

Increased hydration

Due to the water being softer as listed above, drinking more water and staying hydrated becomes even easier. With reduced acidity, alkaline water will hydrate you better than neutral or acidic water.

If using an ionizer, you will also remove harmful chemicals that can have a dehydrating effect on you.

Increased mineral intake

Alkaline water created naturally is done through adding minerals which increase its pH level. Minerals such as magnesium, potassium, and calcium are often found in alkaline water, all of which are vital for the human body.

Reference

1. “Alkaline mineral water lowers bone resorption even in calcium sufficiency:: Alkaline mineral water and bone metabolism” – E. Wynn, M. Krieg, J. Aeschlimann, P. Burckhardt, 26 September 2008 [Science Direct] [Archive] ↩︎
2. “Potential benefits of pH 8.8 alkaline drinking water as an adjunct in the treatment of reflux disease” – J. Koufman, N. Johnston, Last checked 23 February 2024 [PubMed] [Archive] ↩︎
3. “endopeptidase” – Britannica Staff, Last checked 23 February 2024 [Britannica] [Archive] ↩︎
4. “Associations of alkaline water with metabolic risks, sleep quality, muscle strength: A cross-sectional study among postmenopausal women” – Y. Chan, Z. Shariff, Y. Chin, S. Ghazali, P. Lee, K. Chan, 31 October 2022 [PubMed Central] [Archive] ↩︎

Last Updated on 2 months by D&C Editorial Team